How to find your Amazon pages, including your personal, password-protected webpage of Kindle book annotation, with added social features. Kindle tips on updated older e-Ink eReader software update v5.6.1.1 features

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A few tips before I do a recap of current news While getting back to the blog to update it with recent news (the new Kindle coming any day will be addressed in the next blog article), I was trying to find a couple of Amazon management pages for my various settings, but it took forever to find some of them, so I decided to make up a table of them to make it easier for me and for some of you (see chart at left or at the top of the Kindle Edition of this blog for Kindle eReaders) and will add more links later on. E-Ink Kindle Reader 5.6.1.1 'Reading Progress' - where is it? This was one of the more common questions asked after the big required update on older Kindle e-Ink eReaders, including the Paperwhite 1.   It turns out that this is now located under the Aa fonts and screen-display icon.   But you can directly access it within a Kindle book by just tapping the bottom left of the page to activate it  : Aa icon features screen sometimes freezes on some devices   Some have gotten past this by Resetting the device (which includes a normal re-start or a memory-clearing 20-second hold of the power button to reset it). The 'Reset Device' showing on the Home/ Settings/Device Options/Menu screen used to say 'Reset to Factory Default,' which can remove your non-Kindle books and documents, so that should be used only as a last resort.   But some have been able to get the Aa features screen to stop freezing tendencies after merely tapping Home and then Sync and Check for Items.   The general features of older e-Ink v5.6.1.1. software update   This particular software update version is for Paperwhite 1 and older Kindles.  The newer Paperwhites and Voyage have v5.7.x.x. software with slightly different features.     In June 2015, I made a blog article that described v5.6.1.1 update's general features newly available at that time, and users of Paperwhite 1 or older Kindle e-Ink eReaders may want to take a look at those since not much was said about those general features during the recent required update for those of us who had not installed the update when it came out in 2015.  Amazon then delivered this update to these older non-updated Kindle.  Those who did not, for some reason, get this update over the air should see the recent blog article with info on how to manually install it.

  I'm adding, below, an earlier article I posted about a little-known, hugely helpful feature, written YEARS ago but still germane.

This is info I thought would be useful for new Kindle owners, but I've found that oldtime Kindle users don't tend to know it exists, and definitely students involved in the pilot programs at universities don't seem to know either, judging from some reports.

If you check your Menu button/Settings/Menu button (again) options, you'll see one for "Enabling" or "Disabling Annotations Backup."  These are for the personal highlighting and notes that you can make on any regular books purchased from Amazon which are then, if you authorize it, BACKED UP to your own private, password-protected webpage at Amazon.  (PDFs on the Kindle have no annotation features.*)

The Kindle User's Guide is the first book placed on your Kindle (by Amazon) and is also readable on the Net and downloadable to your computer in PDF format for reading on your pc or Mac).
  Be sure to check the parts on how to highlight and make notes (as well as everything else it can do).

  But highlighting is as simple as going to the start of the highlighting and clicking on the 5-way button and using that 5-way to go to the right or down (or across a page turn) until you see where you want to end the highlight.
  Then you press the 5-way button again. That's it.

  There can be confusion at times with the cursor as to whether you want to start a search or just see a dictionary summary definition for a word or start an annotation -- but if the highlighting doesn't work, press "Back" button (my favorite or most-used button) to get back to where you were and start again.

SIDE-NOTE on the much-appreciated BACK button
The "Back" button is also used when you jump to another Location in the book or to a search result for the book or when you decide you want to look up a detailed definition of a word your cursor is on.

  The key word is "jump."  When I Search a word or phrase in a book, to see where it occurs elsewhere in that book, the Kindle gives me 6 search results (depending on the size of the chosen font) on the first page of results and I can choose to click on any or all of them -- BUT to get BACK to where I was in the book, I then press the "BACK" button and I'm back where I was before the Search and 'jump' to the results page.
  It's the same when you click on a link to another part of the book; you press 'BACK' to return to where you were before the 'jump.'

  I read a lot of non-fiction, so I do use this feature a lot.  A big help for any Kindle user is the ability to check your previous annotations for a book, on the Kindle, where they are shown to you via the "My Notes & Marks" option when you click the "MENU" button at bottom right of teh kindle.

  The highlighting and notes feature is especially useful for those in book clubs or for those who are taking a class that uses the book.

  But what's the easiest way to print them out for use elsewhere, if you don't just bring your Kindle and go through it that way?

PRIVATE WEB KINDLE-ANNOTATIONS PAGE FOR OUR BOOKS
  Your private books-annotation webpage at Amazon.  Again, it's password-protected so only you should have access to it.  I think that's part of the agreement with Amazon too.  Each of us can get to that page by typing http://kindle.amazon.com or you can just bookmark it when you get there.  Be sure to click on "Your_Highlights" when you land on the main page.

 When you put in your password, you'll be brought to your list of purchased or free books from Amazon and you can sort them by title or author.  Click on a link for one of your books, and you'll see a group of about 5 highlighting entries and notes you made for the book (if you did).   If you made more annotations than are seen on that page, you'll see, at the top, a list of pages numbered for more of your notes, which you can click on to see the rest of your notes.

  BUT an additional great feature is that you can click near the bottom left of that group of annotation results, on the link to "See all your highlights and notes on one page."  And that's the way I look at them.


Here's a link to an actual web page showing some highlighting entries for a specific book I bought (and haven't finished yet).  The book is a fascinating take on what it's like to actually win an election and enter the White House and all that comes with that.

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* PDF books: you can ask Amazon to convert a copy of any of these by emailing it to [you]@free.kindle.com with the word "Convert" in the Subject field, and they'll send for free a converted copy back to your email.  From there you can move it to your Kindle with the USB cable, putting it into the 'documents' folder of the Kindle.

The larger text, reflowed to fit into a 6" screen will be easier to read, but the original layout tends to be lost when the PDF is complex.  For single column documents it's usually fine though -- plus your inline dictionary will work for these (not for actual PDFs), as will book-searches with multiple-results Kindle style, text-to-speech, and highlighting and notes.  Annotations for books purchased from non-Amazon sources are not backed up to the Amazon server nor are the annotations for those though.



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Kindle Fire Tips: Two favorite Kindle Fire apps: BSPlayer and Tubemate

A few Kindle Fire apps I use the most

The ones described today work for Original Kindle Fire as well as the later models that are in HD.
  If you'd like more info on how some of these work, you can write to the comments area for this blog entry or, if easier, write a question to the kindleworld.andrys Facebook page, as it's easier to do conversations there.  The two apps recommended here are available at Amazon's appstore.


1. BSPlayer Lite - While the Kindle Fire's built-in videoplayer officially plays only certain (but not all) mp4 format videos, BSPlayer Lite (free version) plays almost any format and especially the many camera formats that other good play apps do not play well (having audio probs or halting ones or not being able to play them at all).

   BSPlayer supports:

' avi, divx, flv, mkv, mov, mpg, mts, mp4, m4v, rmvb, wmv, 3gp, mp3, ac3... and streaming content such as RTMP, RTSP, MMS (tcp, http), HTTP Live stream, HTTP.

- Multiple audio streams and subtitles.
- Playlist support and various playback modes.
- Playback media files such as videos and mp3's directly via Wi-Fi from your LAN shared drives/folders (such as external USB drives, Samba (SMB/CIFS) shared drives, PC shared folders, NAS servers (Synology and others)) - no need to convert video files and copy media files to SD card anymore!
- Playback files directly from uncompressed RAR files. '

  It's hardware accelerated and works very well with the Kindle Fire HD (I've not tested it on the original Kindle Fire, but Amazon says that it's compatible).

  CAVEAT:  'Hardware rendering" (the default) works well for Kindle Fire HD models, but you'll be using the app's "software" decoding option on the original first-generation Kindle Fire, which has a different processor and is not High Definition in screen resolution -- it may not handle 720p video resolution files well, not being a high-definition tablet (but I was able to make 720p resolution mp4 files for my Kindle Fire and they played well if the converter used was a good one like DVD Catalyst 4's) while the newer Kindle Fires that were launched Sept 2012 are HD devices.
  With BSPlayer you don't have to do file conversions on most files to play them.

  Earlier, I mentioned that maybe the flash-player problems with Adobe's dropping support for Android devices with later operating systems is causing no small frustration to tablet buyers re video in general and is leading Amazon to offer more generally good video player alternatives.

  With BSPlayer in 'hardware' mode on the Kindle Fire HD models, you can adjust the brightness with a swipe up or down on the left side and can adjust volume with a swipe up and down on the right side, etc.  It has played everything I've thrown at it, flawlessly,  and gives you a lot of file info too.  No other popular video player I tried could play the files from my varying camera video recorders.  If you have HTC devices, read their support notes though.  It's a good idea no matter what device you have, to read an app's support notes, to save some frustration and time.

  The hardware decoder works beautifully but plays audio as-is and doesn't use the Dolby Stereo feature, from what I can tell.  If you want the Dolby Stereo, you'd choose, on any videoplayer-choice popup Menu, to use "VideoPlayer" instead of BSPlayer OR change the Settings in BSPlayer (which I'd rather not do).
  Also, there are higher-resolution files offered by some uploaders at Youtube that are available only in "flv video" and most Android app players don't play those, nor does Kindle Fire's "Video Player" -- but BSPlayer does.

  I use BSPlayer with 'Tubemate' (see below) for Youtube videos that I've downloaded, and there you're asked which videoplayer you want to use.  BSPlayer, itself, does not have a great user-interface but when called from Tubemate, you can find your videos in the 'Downloads' video folder (this will be either the tablet's generic Downloads folder or if, instead, a folder you chose when doing the setup for a program like Tubemate, where you'd want to see JUST Tubemate videos rather than all downloads made.

   In connection with finding items in folders etc., you should get comfortable with a good file-explorer/manager like ES File Explorer  AND, often even better  if you have trouble finding your install (".apk") files, get the Easy Installer, at Amazon also, which automatically hunts those down for you (a must-have app, in my view).


2. Tubemate - This does a GREAT job of downloading Youtube videoclips to the KFHD, to play when not connected to the Net.  And of course you can just watch them w/o downloading them.

  I've written a few times about how to install Adobe Flash Player for Flash-videos, which I use especially for full-past-episodes watching at NetworkTV places like ABC's site, something the iPad can't do.  However, this popular workaround or feature that you can add with the help of Amazon's allowed settings described in the articles is not necessary for accessing Youtube's videos if you use Tubemate or other somewhat-less-capable Youtube-focused apps.

  Also mentioned in the past is that you can use Amazon's web browser (Silk) to get Youtube videos by changing settings to see websites only in 'mobile' format, which can be quite ugly and missing in features when done on a 7" device (especially a high-definition one). The mobile-type access was meant for the tiny screens of smartphones.  But Amazon's silk browser will work with Youtube video viewing if you change the Settings from "Desktop" to either "Automatic" (which will choose 'mobile' access for Youtube) or "Mobile" (which gives only mobile access to all pages, a mode I personally dislike on a larger device).

  As mentioned, when you are wanting to play a video that's in the "Downloads" video folder, you're given options of which video player to use and one of those options will be BSPlayer (if you downloaded that app and set it up), and that option controlled by Tubemate app gives you a nicer overall file-interface for choosing files to play.

  (With BSPlayer opened on its own, you're dropped into the file system and would need to find the "Video" folder to see the video files and would need to know which folder that was.

  But, as ever, when using ANY app, look for a rectangular Menu for it (looks like a washboard, air conditioner, or stepladder) and then look through "Preferences" or "Settings" (or both) to see what settings would suit you best.

  When I show friends what the Kindle Fire can do, the most popular feature next to Amazon's Prime Instant Videos section (which needs no external apps), the runaway favorite is being able to view favorite Youtube videos on the Kindle Fire when there's no WiFi access.

  You are "defaulted," when opening the Tubemate app, to its version of the Youtube user-interface (which is searchable), but I prefer after a short while to have it open to my local Kindle Fire's video downloads folder which it labels "Downloads" in its own menu.  You can change the folder used for that, using the Preferences feature, either way.

  As you view a Youtube video and decide you'd like to watch it offline, there is a somewhat odd procedure but easy enough to remember if you don't want the reminder coming up each time.

You'll see the video starting in a standard mode, but below it on the right side is a GREEN ARROW that points downward.

  You should press this when wanting to download a file and it will then ask whether you want to download or just watch the video (meaning watch it in a video resolution of your choosing if your Internet speed allows).  I press the Green Arrow only when I want to download, as watching in standard mode is okay when I'm just checking it out.

  Then it presents you a list of files in varying resolutions.  Choose the resolution that fits your device best. For Kindle Fire HD 7", it'll be 1280x800 or thereabouts (which is HD video and therefore a larger file -- so think of space considerations vs video clarity), and if no file that large is available for that video, then choose the next size down.
  For the Kindle Fire HD 8.9", choose 1920x1200 or so if it's available, as that is super high resolution (or 'Retina' range specs).

  Now here's the kicker: As of the latest software update, the author does not tell you the file IS downloading, and then when he tells you the file is downloaded, it is visible for maybe 1-2 seconds and we often miss it and you're left wondering.

  You can press the MENU and check your Downloads folder to see if it's there, completed.
On a slow connection the other day, a friend and I were startled to see it had downloaded the file just fine but we'd have never known.

  CAUTION - Watch the File Storage space. (Touch the top row and Swipe down, then click on "More" for more settings, and check "Device" to see how much storage you are using and still have left.)

  If choosing a 16-gig Android tablet by anyone, the space for videos, and especially HD videos!, puts you up against limits very quickly.  I chose the 32GB model for $50 more, which is not much more expensive than getting a solid, fast 16GB SD card that is always there though you can't pop it in and out, but with the Amazon Cloud where I can keep things or with the ability to use my computer or external drive as a backup device, 32GB works very well (though I'll always want more.)

After a few months, I still have about 17 Gigs of space left but I would find it frustrating to always have to swap files in and out if I'd bought a 16GB model.

I'll stop here, as more will probably confuse and will add more Favorite apps later with tips on how to use them.  Of course, please feel free to ask any questions here or at the Facebook kindleworld.andrys area or write any feedback you have on these two apps.  Thanks!



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More tips on using the Kindle Fire HD 7" tablet: Global Favorites, Now exclude webpages from Carousel. FixIt teardown of KFHD7, Cloud player streams in UK, Germany, France today, kFireHd rooted

That's the Carousel at the left, with the "Most Recent" item accessed showing first -  whether it's a book, a webpage, an app, music, a game, or some other category.

Before I begin, please note that a LIGHTER tap or press is still usually more effective with the Kindle Fire HD, just as as it was with the earlier model.

  When I forget this (because the Kindle Fire HD is more flexible and is generally more responsive to a harder touch than the first KFire was), sometimes I'll get no response from touching a Carousel icon.
  Then I realize I'm pressing too hard for the touch settings of this tablet (which someone has said blocks something) and I'll change to a very light tap or press (barely even touching the glass sometimes) and that works immediately.

With the first Kindle Fire, an Amazon Kindle forum thread focused on trying that lighter touch and it worked better for almost everyone.   The lighter tap is not as needed now, but it'll help.
  Also, the keyboard on the new KFire HD is the most typo-free one I've experienced in small-form devices -- the calibration seems very precise and responsive.

Amazon's purchasing suggestions and the Favorites feature that overrides that
  I've been using the new 7" Kindle Fire HD in Landscape mode for almost everything  -- for video and more readable webpages especially.  I had not seen, in more than a day of using it, the "Other customers bought" suggestions which show up, in portrait or vertical mode, at the bottom of the Home page where the book shelves used to be, a decision which hasn't met with the happiest noises in the forums.
 In Landscape mode, though, they don't appear.

  In portrait modes, they appear in what is also the important display area for what Amazon calls "Favorites."

  Some had worried that 'Favorites' were gone, in favor of marketing.  But they're not.

  Once you've made your Favorites by adding each from the Carousel into that area (and you can move each of these around within the Favorites area as was possible with the older Kindle Fire "shelves"), you can then click the large star icon that is accessible on almost any page, unless the bottom or sidebar menu is not showing.

 Tapping on the star icon brings up the items you designated as Favorites, which do display in a way similar to the old shelf-look but with no 'wood.'

Show the hidden basic Menu, which shows the star icon
  If no basic Menu line of options is showing on a page, you can lightly tap the "||" (or horizontal version of those double-lines) seen at the right edge or bottom of the tablet.   That brings up the basic Menu, which is often hidden in order to show full-screen material. (I really like the programmers' choice there, with less loss of screen 'real estate' for the focus of actual interest, but newcomers will tend to wonder what to do next.)

The usual large star used to bring up global tablet-favorites will be at upper or bottom right.  Someone in the forums mentioned that he "favorited" Wikipedia, and while reading a book (or using another tablet activity), he can tap the center area of the book page, say, to bring up the many options, and then tap the Star to see the  Favorites-display  without interrupting his activity otherwise, and from that he calls up Wikipedia.

(When reading a book, that's not the optimal way though.  If interested in a word or phrase on a book page, you can long-press it and get options to search the book, Wikipedia, or the Web for more info on it.)

  These are Favorites you specify or save for *global* use, in that you can save a webpage not just as a browser bookmark but as an overall 'Favorite' for the tablet, period, and do the same for any app or book, etc.

  You can access that Favorite item from just about anyplace, even while in the video or app areas -- whether it's to check a book or webpage for something or to check a personal doc or the weather.  It's browser-independent, and serves as a sort-of task switcher.

For those who haven't used a Kindle Fire before:
  You might find yourself at a screen that you're finished but with no idea of how to close it or go to something you actually want to see next.
  If the menu isn't showing, tap the small double-line ( || ) to bring the menu up.  Then tap the Home icon.
  Since Home is the starting place or where you can get your bearings :-),
the Home icon will be the first item on the horizontal lower status line or at the bottom of the vertical sidebar.

  While reading a book, pressing Home in the book's reader menu will close the book and record or save the last-page you read and any notes and highlights that aren't saved yet for sync'g with a myriad other devices and with the backup-servers.  I think this is one reason for a small delay when ending a session.

  (If you approve Amazon's ongoing backup of your annotations, they're placed on your personal Amazon annotations web page with each book and are copyable and printable.)

MAKING a Favorite
When on a page or app that you want to globally add to Favorites for the tablet and not just for a webpage, you can exit the page by tapping the Menu and pressing Home.

At that point, the Carousel at the top will have the "Most Recent" activity at the far left -- the first one in the Carousel.  That helps identify where you were, for one thing, if you want to make a global Favorite.

  To move it into Favorites, you lightly long-press it and choose to "Add to Favorites."

  Other options shown on the long press are to "Remove from Carousel" or "Remove from Device"  (With any removal of an item from the tablet, a copy would remain in your Amazon server backup area if you got it from them, in case you want to read or use it again someday. Removing items not being used frees up storage space.

Option to NOT display webpages as "most recent page" in Carousel
Because so many have objected to their last activity being displayed to anyone who might be in the vicinity of your tablet when you're using it, there is now an option to not display webpages as the 'most recent' page but that's an Amazon Silk browser setting, found under the Web browser menu, and titled "Silk Settings, where you see the setting under "Saved Data."

  The setting is "Display most recent page in Carousel" and can be checked or not.  That's in answer to people who didn't like that others around them could easily see which webpages they'd been on last and asked Amazon for a way to exclude it from the Carousel listing.

  There've been times I didn't want the last webpage prominently included (mainly because it can be ugly looking, often much bigger than other Carousel items).  On the other hand, I like being able to add certain really useful webpages as global Favorites that I can call from anywhere, and the Carousel is where it's done, so I keep it as shown.

Trending feature
Another batch of info pages shown under the Carousel when the area is not filled with Favorites, is "Trending" -- what I've seen there are news pages that are not the usual headliners and are sometimes actually interesting (to me). So far, I've not seen a promotion there.

  But again, I'm almost always in Landscape (unless reading a book) and don't see, then, the marketing for "Other customers bought..."  Amazon was upfront at the press conference about making the money not so much from the sale of a tablet  but when the owner uses it and of course that wouldn't be from just passive video watching, reading, or playing games. Amazon would want to draw attention to what you can buy.  So, it's a tradeoff and those who want to avoid marketing at all costs can get a Google Nexus, although for the same price, the Nexus has only 8 GB of storage space, one mono speaker, and no HDMI out to HDTV.


FixIt's Teardown to examine the unit for repairability and component quality
Fix-it just released a "Teardown" of both the Kindle Fire HD and the upgraded version of the first Kindle Fire, showing what's inside and commenting on what they find, explaining some of the workings, and they're impressed with the innards of the KFHD 7 and its relatively high repairability (a '7' to iPad3's '2', others have pointed out).

PC Magazine summarizes the findings in straight-text format.


Amazon's Cloud Player goes live in UK today

This finally allows Kindle Fire owners in the UK, France, and Germany to store and play music over the web or via dedicated apps.  Details by CNET-UK's Harry Theobald for the UK.


The Kindle Fire HD has been rooted already
This won't be of much interest to the vast majority of readers but it's news, so here it is, with the caveat that anyone trying it and unsuccessful at it could easily brick their Kindle Fires.
  Except for the pure challenge, I don't know why people wouldn't just pay $50 more to get the 16 GB Google Nexus if they just want a pure Android tablet with GPS and an overall faster processor (but with limited audio playback w/o add-ons and no HDMI-out) to an HDTV.

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Check often: Temporarily-free recently published Kindle books
  Guide to finding Free Kindle books and Sources.  Top 100 free bestsellers.  Liked-books under $1
UK-Only: recently published free books, bestsellers, or £5 Max ones
    Also, UK customers should see the UK store's Top 100 free bestsellers.

  *Click* to Return to the HOME PAGE.  Or click on the web browser's BACK button

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Kindle Tips: Kindle Fire/Touch info for new users + B&N closes up Nook Tablet loophole. UPDATED Dec. 25 for added links.

RANDOM THINGS ABOUT AND FOR KINDLE FIRE

By now, everything's in place for Christmas and the calls to Buy this, Buy that will finally scale back, well, until the day after Christmas.

In the meantime, a few million people will suddenly find themselves with Kindles of one type or another.  So, I'll write a few reminders about the Kindle Fire, about which there has been some misunderstanding in recent news stories.
  There are some tips for Kindle Touch e-readers also.


New Best of Digital page
  Amazon just added a page they call "Best of Digital" -or "amazondigital Deals" (the odd capitalization is Amazon's) which is described as "The year's best MP3 music, games and apps for Android, movies and TV shows, Kindle Books, Audible audiobooks, software downloads, and video game downloads."


Prime Program features
  For the first month, free Prime membership is included with Kindle Fire, though many of us have had that for awhile because it is basically a program to get free shipping within 2 days for almost any purchases from Amazon with no minimum purchase amount, BUT they've now added other features such as over 10,000 free streaming videos and the ability to borrow a Kindle book each calendar month with no library waits and no due date.  The cost of that is $79/yr, or $6.58/mo.

  They recently added current PBS specials and unusual items from the BBC and lots of documentaries if families are into that.  While doing reading for the blog the other day, I had the Kindle Fire behind the keyboard, hooked to external speakers, to watch recent offerings of a current documentary on Steve Jobs by PBS and a special on North Korea (after hearing so much news about their leader's death, and the concern over how this will affect us).  Both were fascinating to me.  They also have seasons full of TV favorites but they'll not be current seasons.  These are viewable at essentially no added cost for Prime members.


That power button
  The NY Times has complained mightily, quickly followed by other news-sites quoting them, about missing features that anyone with a $500 tablet is used to and can't do without.  They've quoted a few with unhappy reactions in Kindle forums while ignoring the rather large majority very pleased with the KFire.

  A power button on the 'bottom' that can put the tablet to sleep (not 'off') if your stomach presses it is a big concern although top and bottom are interchangeable and you can turn what is up(side), down and the speakers (low-powered) are then pointing toward you.  I miss the hardware volume button too, but they've whittled features down to get to the $199 price point.
For $300 difference, what is it that some will find impossible -- that's the key and those unhappy really should get other devices and pay a bit more.


B&N's Nook Tablet and B&N policies
  There is also the Nook Tablet, at $250 plus another $20 for a good microSD card to expand storage space, so that is an additional $70 for what is more expandable hardware by a company that itself doesn't have much for the tablet to use as it doesn't offer its own streaming of music or video, and now it's been found that their latest update no longer allows their customers to use a web browser to work around the fact that B&N will not allow side-loading (via USB cable) of non-B&N apps.  They've closed off that avenue, or loophole.

  And, as most know, they've limited non-B&N files on the internal storage, to 1 gigabyte.  But since their launch emphasized that the Kindle Fire is "not open" the way the Nook Tablet is, I'll talk about that a bit.
  B&N's first odd claim was that they had Netflix and Hulu Plus and that Amazon wouldn't allow that, due to wanting to bind customers to only Amazon content.

  That turned out to be strangely uninformed, since Netflix and other companies were announced as having the Kindle Fire Sept. 28 and working on it.  And, as KFire owners know, Netflix and Hulu Plus were both available for the KFire upon delivery.  As you'll see, most actual KFire users find the video streaming, and the quality of it (if your Internet host is giving you good download speeds and your router is good), a big plus.


Sideloading of non-Amazon store apps
  Amazon, interviewed at the launch, said that side-loading of non-Amazon apps IS allowed, and with the latest update it still is.  Bear in mind that some of these may not be entirely compatible with Amazon's heavy customization of the Android operating system.

  Amazon also shows, with the latest update (v6.2.1) as any Android device will, how much is set aside specifically for app files.  In this case, 1 gig.  I've added many apps, almost daily, and have used up 1/3 of my space for that (including mapping programs), but I don't keep on the device what I know I won't use.

  Server storage of your purchases or even your own non-Amazon files
  If I got an app from Amazon's app store, Amazon still keeps it for me on the servers at no charge and I can re-download it at any time, for use when wanted.
  Many are hoarding the daily free Android apps and when they're not using them, these should be deleted from the device until wanted, as they'll be available to the customer at any time via Amazon's servers which keep records of the 'purchase' even when $0.00.

  These are not charged storage use against the free 5 gigs that all customers globally get for storage of non-copyrighted data from anywhere else.  That's in addition to another free 5 gigs of Kindle-device storage/backup for personal documents (non-Amazon purchased material) that you decide you want backed up on the server and sync'd.
  B&N-purchased material is stored by B&N but they don't provide storage for non-B&N files.

  "Sideloading" non-Amazon apps is explained at the earlier article on how to sideload non-Amazon apps.

  I'll have more info on the more reliable sites to get good non-Amazon apps, in a future blog article.


Android Marketplace, which isn't readily available on either Kindle Fire or Nook Tablet
  Neither company allows access to the full, non-curated Android Marketplace.  And those of us who do use the Android Market via our other devices need to be careful about what we get there as malware/virus-infected files are proliferating in the Marketplace because they are not checked, at this point, by Google before being made available to the public. See:
  . Dec 23 article by ZDNet "More Trojanized games enter Google's Android Market app store."
  . Techworld's more-detailed article
  . A list of pulled malware in December, that was targeting Europeans.

  In the meantime, LinuxInsider has a story on Dec 20 titled, "Can Amazon Save Android from Malware Hell?"  They point out:

' Simply put, Amazon tests apps to death before letting them into its app store.  Every app submitted undergoes tests for various aspects of its performance.  There are linking tests, stability and functionality tests, tests on content issues and tests on security issues.

  Each aspect is tested in several ways.  For example, stability and functionality tests look to see whether an app opens within 15 seconds; whether it is compliant with the major carriers' networks; whether it freezes, has forced closings or exhibits other forms of instability; and how it reacts to phone calls, text messages, and alarms.

  Content issue tests look for missing content, unreadable text and incorrect graphics.   They also ensure the app complies with Amazon's content guidelines on offensive content, copyright infringement, illegal activities and other issues.

Security tests include making sure the app doesn't store passwords without the user's content, doesn't collect data and send it to unknown servers, and doesn't harm existing content on the device. '

They add that Apple puts apps through a tortuous approval process also, but adds that

'However, malicious content has slipped through because "the application reviews focus is on the end user experience, not end user security," Sutton pointed out.

Taking a more proactive stance on security, as Amazon has, would help secure Android apps better.

"Providing a known secure source for apps will greatly enhance the overall value of the app store, especially in the Android space where competing app stores exist -- an approach that Amazon appears to be adopting," Sutton concluded. '

Having said that, Amazon is known to be too controlling about what applications can be released, when it comes to whether users might like a particular app and can delay developer efforts by many months, including the time it takes to approve improved apps with features that users have requested, causing the creators to seem non-responsive to customers.


RE tiny fonts on WEBpages
Be sure to read the blog article here on how to enlarge web-page fonts and reflow the text for much more comfortable reading.


WiFi connection concerns
This is already too long, so I'll close this with some info on WiFi connection problems I've done some reading on, and I'll be back within the next day or two with some good new books and software for the Kindle Fire and e-Ink Kindle e-readers, in time for those with newly unwrapped Kindles.

  Common solution to some WiFi problems (from the forums)

' DiabetesDoc says:
Just got my KF, and it recognizes my wireless network, and a bunch of others. But when I try to access my wireless network (using the same cryptic series of letters & numbers as usual), it says "Unable to Connect to Wi-Fi Network" and despite tapping on "Keep Trying", it gets the same screen.  I've tried from 3 feet, 10 feet, and 30 feet from the wifi base, all with same results. What should I try next?

Addendum, 11/16/2011: My KF is now working fine. I turned off computer, modem, router, then back on (a trick mentioned to me by CS [Customer Support] and the KF came up w/o problem.

  [ and the next one from another message thread ]
Dec 17, 2011 6:23:13 PM PST
Old **Bah Humbug** Rocker says:

I had the WiFi issue 2 days ago and resetting my router did the trick. '

  NOTE: WiFi problems were seen by the thousands with the first iPad and then with the first NookColor.  It's often a combo of many factors, with a new device suddenly not connecting easily as the other devices had.

  A recommended router
 In my case, my Kindles had worked fine with the WiFi router but my NookColor would not connect most of the time and when it did it would drop out all the time.   I decided to try a new router and bought a Netgear N300 (mid-$-range type) and I've not had a problem since.

  There are better, more capable routers out there, but this was a relatively inexpensive one that works well for me, and I've not tried others because I've not had reason to look for one.
  For instance, there are dual-band routers that will isolate the two currently popular speeds so that slower ones won't slow down the newer type devices.


Important tips for navigating both Kindle Touch and Kindle Fire models
  . Tips for using Kindle Touch and Kindle Fire
  . Notes & tips on Kindle Touch
  . Browse the list of borrowable Prime Kindle books that new Kindle-device owners can download (only one per calendar month) without waiting and without due dates.  This is part of Prime, and new Kindle device customers get one month of Prime free.
  . Kindle Fire cases and a sleeve I like for the Kindle Touch + a GREAT mini speaker for the KFire.


Free Kindle Books guide
This blog's guide to finding free books for your Kindle from Amazon and elsewhere, plus prepared searches filtered by non-public-domain books (and vice versa) and sorted on published date, or bestselling, or highly rated.  It includes a way to find the lower-cost books also.


Articles or forum threads on the Kindle Fire
  . Kindle Fire Owners Love Their Tablet, Flaws and All.
  . Kindle Fire first impressions: Wow!
  . Taking Amazon's Kindle Fire on vacation
  . Kindle Fire's Volkswagon Moment
  . 12 things that kinda suck about the Kindle Fire
  . Is Fire's touchscreen responsive?
    I enjoyed one post that merely said, re the lighter touch that should be used,
    "B.Hart says:
"I have to keep reminding my husband it is a touch screen, not a thump screen. The lighter touch seems to work better."
  . A motorcyclists forum discussion about the Kindle Fire



VIDEO Demos that are especially illuminating
  (Kindle-Edition subscribers need to go to http://kindleworld.blogspot.com to click on video links - see entry for December 24.)
  . Video of MobileTechReview's thorough hands-on review/demo of the Kindle Fire
  . Video by reviewer djramsey shows how responsive the Kindle Fire can be with a lighter touch (and that was before the software upgrade).



Kindle Touch 3G   Kindle Touch WiFi   Kindle Basic   (UK: KBasic)   Kindle Fire
Kindle Keybd 3G   (UK: Kindle Keybd 3G)   K3 Special Offers   K3-3G Special Offers   DX

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Check often: Temporarily-free recently published ones
  Guide to finding Free Kindle books and Sources.  Top 100 free bestsellers.  Liked-books under $1
UK-Only: recently published free books, bestsellers, or £5 Max ones
    Also, UK customers should see the UK store's Top 100 free bestsellers.

  *Click* to Return to the HOME PAGE.  Or click on the web browser's BACK button Below are ways to Share this post if you'd like others to see it.
-- The Send to Kindle button works well only on Firefox currently.

Send to Kindle

(Older posts have older Kindle model info. For latest models, see CURRENT KINDLES page. )
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Questions & feedback are welcome in the Comment areas (tho' spam is deleted). Thanks!

Kindle Tips: Benefits of a Kindle while Traveling + Google Voice Text Transcripts

FREQUENT FLYERS DISCUSS THE ADVANTAGES OF A KINDLE WHILE TRAVELING ABROAD

At the milepoint forums "where frequent flyers meet," I saw a discussion started by a member who linked to A Kindle World's table of free 3G Kindle access internationally -- the updated version of that table is here. (Link: bit.ly/kwpweb )

Be aware that the experimental web browser (used on Kindles since 2007), on an e-Ink screen e-reader, is very slow on sites with many images to download, and as with smartphones, people should choose, when they can, a mobile-device version of the web page.

For that reason, I made a free, downloadable file of links (Link: bit.ly/kmobiweb ) to faster-loading, text-focused pages.  It's opened in the same way as any other Kindle book, and the hyperlinks work from the page you're reading (you'll be asked about turning Wireless 'On' to connect).
  Wireless activity does tax the battery more than mere reading.

  Included are recommended links to GMail and Facebook that are more reliable on the Kindle than the usual ones.

Member cmj542 at the milepoint forums posted a great tip I've not seen before.

' In addition, you can set up your cell phone to forward to Google Voice and check Google Voice via your Kindle internet browser.  With Google voice, you can get the text transcripts of any voicemail sent to you.  And you can have people text you at your Google Voice number and text back from Google voice.  So, you can keep track of your calls and texts without incurring any crazy international fees. '

  A really creative use of the Kindle 3G, that one.  Regular readers of this blog space know about the ongoing Amazon Kindle forum discussion about Unique uses of the Kindle.

  This is a capability found, on e-readers, only with the Kindle, which you can get with 3G (no monthly data charges) for $139 these days if taking the Kindle with "Special Offers" -- which has a combination of  1) screensavers that display non-moving ads, seen only when you're not reading, and  2) special offers like the ones from Living Social or GroupOn, but which are for the Amazon store.  There's also a small ad in the bottom row of the Home screen.  This saves $50 from the regular $189 3G Kindle (UK: K3).

  Read the rest of cmj542's take on the Kindle, including his experience with the 'Special Offers' model, as well as what other forum members at milepoint say about their own experiences.

Loved this tip and decided to forward it right away.  Hope others enjoy it too.


Kindle 3's   (UK: Kindle 3's)   K3 Special ($114)   K3-3G Special ($139)   DX Graphite

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Check often: Temporarily-free late-listed non-classics or recently published ones
  Guide to finding Free Kindle books and Sources.  Top 100 free bestsellers.  Liked-books under $1
UK-Only: recently published non-classics, bestsellers, or £5 Max ones
    Also, UK customers should see the UK store's Top 100 free bestsellers.

Below are ways to Share this post if you'd like others to see it.
-- The Send to Kindle button works well only on Firefox currently.

Send to Kindle

(Older posts have older Kindle model info. For latest models, see CURRENT KINDLES page. )
If interested, you can also follow my add'l blog-related news at Facebook and Twitter
Questions & feedback are welcome in the Comment areas (tho' spam is deleted). Thanks!

Kindle Tips, Questions, Entertaining Forum Message Threads

TIPS AND INTERESTING MESSAGE TOPICS FROM VARIOUS COMMUNITIES

How to make your contact information more visible on the Kindle
This Guy Has My Kindle, an article by Matthew E. Lindner of the Cornell Law Review, at The Atlantic Monthly site.

  Although it's about suffering a loss (his Kindle), it's a fun read, well-written.  Mattthew does ask how his personal or contact information could be found when someone would have to know how to turn the Kindle on in the first place --  hit the Menu button, scroll down to Settings, select it, and then press Next page twice before being able to see it.  A good question.

What I recommended:

' In the future, press Menu button and select Settings.  Under "Device Name" you can personalize' your Kindle by giving it a name or other info that shows up at the top of the Home page.

There you can put a 'nickname' for the Kindle and your phone number, w/ area code [that's just one idea but it's what I do].

Gives you a chance at least, if it's picked up by an honest person.'

That way if the finder turns on the Kindle or wakes it from sleep by moving the power button, your contact info will be visible at the top.

  Added tip:  This won't work, though, if you don't CLOSE your book by pressing Home button.  The finder would wind up on a page of a book and without a clue as to how to get to any main screen.

  Added tip 2:  ALWAYS close your book, by pressing the Home key, when you leave the Kindle.  This is the only way your latest-page read will be logged and your highlights and notes recorded.  That's done when you close the book by pressing "Home" key.  If for some reason the Kindle were to freeze, you'd lose that data and any notes you made.  When you're ready to start reading again, it'll open to the last-page read.

  Added tip 3:   I also push the lever/button to the right to put the Kindle to sleep when I've finished reading even for a short while (after pressing the Home key to record all the session data).  That way I won't be accidentally changing pages or anything else unintended. when I pick it up.

Am Amazon rep told Lindner that they could deregister the Kindle and no one else would be able to use it.  They'd have the serial number too in case someone sent the unit to them, but that's sort of  unlikely.

  Two of my friends lost their Kindles last Christmas, one Kindle just disappeared from the airport rolling pick-up area that receives your possessions after they're x-ray'd.  Neither one had their personal contact info easily findable, but since one was left on a park bench and it was not turned in and the other was clearly stolen, it wouldn't have mattered.  Not to bring anyone down, but it's a cold world out there sometimes.


OTHER INTERESTING WEB-READS
Highly Recommended Books that I Didn't Like - a very entertaining forum thread

Is Getting the Kindle with 3G really worth it? - one of the most-often asked questions in the forums

Books, version 2.0? - An amusing personal story that begins, "Although I love books and have spent a lot of years haunting libraries and bookstores, I have to confess that recently I betrayed the printed word.  My wife talked me into buying an Amazon Kindle for my birthday...
... it is fairly worthless when it comes to killing spiders or propping up a bed frame..."

And, here's an old standby:
Creative or unique uses of the Kindle - by Amazon forum members.

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For daily free ebooks, check the following links:

Temporarily-free books - Non-classics - USA: by: NEW:  May  June  July 2011    Publication Date   Late-listed    Bestselling   High-ratings UK: PubDate   Popular What is 3G? and "WiFi"?       Battery Care Highly-rated under $1,  Newest: $1-$2, $2-$3

Most Popular Free K-Books U.S. & Int'l (NOT UK):    Top 100 free UK-Only:    Top 100 free USEFUL for your Kindle (U.S. only, currently):   99c Notepad 1.1,   99c Calculator,   99c Calendar,   99c Converter

Kindle 3's   (UK: Kindle 3's)   K3 Special ($114)   K3-3G Special ($139)   DX Graphite Below are ways to Share this post if you'd like others to see it.
-- The Send to Kindle button works well only on Firefox currently.

Send to Kindle

(Older posts have older Kindle model info. For latest models, see CURRENT KINDLES page. )
If interested, you can also follow my add'l blog-related news at Facebook and Twitter
Questions & feedback are welcome in the Comment areas (tho' spam is deleted). Thanks!

Kindle Tips: Web 'Article Mode' / Nook Touch's "hidden" web browser.

  Click on 1st image to get Nook Touch web browser story with video.  Click on 2nd image to get the larger version of the Kindle 3 web pic.

Nathan of The EbookReader found that the Nook has a "hidden" web browser.

  As he points out, it's hidden for a reason.

' Scrolling, zooming, and activating hyperlinks are hit-or-miss, and pages don’t load half the time. I tried downloading an EPUB from Feedbooks, the download worked, but the ebook would not open...
...Overall, though, it needs a lot of work—probably why Barnes and Noble never mentioned it. '

  In fact, in their current Nook comparison chart, Barnes & Noble actually marked that the Nook Touch doesn't have a web browser.  By that, I guess they mean it doesn't have a correctly functioning one.
  Some see that as a challenge to "root" the device though it's a tad risky or frustrating with B&N doing unannounced firmware upgrades as they have.

  Nathan says the menu system, otherwise, "seems to work well" and it shows "promise."

The Nook Touch uses the Android operating system, as does the much faster LCD NookColor.  Both of them will find websites if you start a device Search while specifying a website or URL like "google.com" for that search.

  Many of us suspect that's a basic Android OS feature which can be built on when developers want.  At Mobileread forums, there's an interesting discussion on this, and Antioch says:

' It could just be an artifact of using Android. The Android search functionality will take you to the web to find things so maybe this is just that. Unless it's not the native Android browser... '

  Definitely boosting that theory is what's explained at the android developers webpage on their Guide to the Basics, "What is Android?"

' Developers have full access to the same framework APIs used by the core applications. The application architecture is designed to simplify the reuse of components...
  Underlying all applications is a set of services and systems, including:

  . A rich and extensible set of Views that can be used to build an application, including lists, grids, text boxes, buttons, and even an embeddable web browser... '

As for its incomplete functioning, Mobileread Forum's tom e reports being at B&N trying it out, and he wrote:

' ...You seem to have to know the web address you want.  You can get to google.com easily, but when you try to 'google' something you get knocked out of the browser. '

trescenzi agrees that

' There is a really good chance this is an artifact from it being android based.  The browser has the usual android browser features and if you swipe down it brings up the address bar and options.  Also when you go to search the button labeled "search" switches to "go" making me think it recognizes addresses as such.

Update:
Looks like even though you can use the address bar it wont actually connect to addresses entered there.  Just got onto my gmail account and everything works great.-Scratch that looks like any attempt to send mail crashes the browser. '

tom e adds to his earlier report:

' ...I did view my own blog on it though, by typing the URL, and I did see the main page for the google online apps.  I think I even saw a hint of multitouch capability (did the opposite of the 'pinch' on the screen)  It did appear to zoom in, but only barely and then got stuck.  Maybe the refresh rate was too slow?  Maybe I imagined it. (?) '

  He mentions Nathan's video (on Nathan's page, linked above) and seeing Landscape mode at one point. The (Android-based) NookColor, which I have and which definitely has a smooth browser, does have Landscape mode active for Web, although B&N programmers don't enable Landscape for non-children's books for some reason, nor for PDFs.
  The video shows the web browser to be, otherwise, pretty smooth and responsive.  It could be that the e-Ink screen can't keep up with what the enbedded Android browser needs.

trescenzi adds a positive note:

' With respect to RSS if you use google reader to read RSS the mobile app is awesome and worked great when I tried to use it on the nook touch's browser. '

forkyfork writes:

' It's neat from a "look, it's something we didn't expect" perspective, but DO NOT BUY THIS MODEL IF WEB BROWSING IS AT ALL IMPORTANT TO YOU. '

And tom e adds,

' Yep I totally agree that it's not a browser that is sufficient on its own, as is.  I wouldn't buy it just now (at least not with the belief that it's going to be more than they advertise) nor would I recommend anyone else do so.

  On the other hand I think it shows us that it's plenty able to do some simple things that I want...
  I do not think it's very capable for real web browsing though, no matter what people root and put on. Basically, it flashes so much just trying to load most pages (or scrolling down them YUCK!) that it would make me crazy... '

  At the pace of Barnes and Noble's updates for my NookColor (and even REMOVING highlight, copy, paste from the web browser, I don't know how much energy they'd put into working on the Nook Touch e-Ink web browser while on the verge of being bought by Liberty with the stipulation that the current BN head, Leonard Riccio, would join the buyout.  There are concerns about voting by other stockholders and the fact that Ron Burkle and Aletheia Research and Management own almost 31% of the stock between them and may have a say in things.

  As the NYTimes put it, B&N "faces some difficult choices about the company’s second-largest shareholder while simultaneously managing a conflicted sale to Liberty Media and the bookseller’s largest shareholder."

  As B&N has been stressing and analysts explain, in this technewsworld article,

' The market may now be ready for that type of simpler device for a crowd that isn't willing to invest in a complex personal device.

  "There is a group of people who are using traditional computing technologies today, and then those who say, 'This is too complex for me, I need a simple solution.' That audience is looking for a device that does one thing and does an excellent job at that, and the e-reader does that by being a replication of the book-reading experience and removing the complexity of that," said Orr. '

But I think B&N would be smarter to enable fully and develop the functioning of the e-Ink web browser and eventually unhide it, as the current gadget world just expects at least a simple web browser if only for emergencies, and their biggest competitor, Amazon, has a working one.

  Not only that, the Kindles (UK: K3's) have, as I've stressed, a truly unique and valuable feature, free 3G web-browsing almost anywhere you happen to be and this is possible in 60 of 100+ countries, while the 3G itself is enabled for Amazon book downloading plus free Wikipedia 3G web access in over 100 countries.

  If B&N Nooks had those capabilities, the press would probably be whooping it up, but the many features that Amazon has given the Kindle are given short shrift, as there's "nothing new" in any of that :-).  All Kindles have had that since 2007. Slow, but faster than zero, and other ereaders enable any 3G web browser for bookstore-sites only.

KINDLE WEB BROWSER TIP
I've found that almost no one I know personally is aware of the web-browser feature added in August that makes the Kindle 3's web browsing more pleasurable and they're using instead only the Zoom feature, which I find awkward.  I'll illustrate the steps in another blog entry later, but here's, basically, what you do.

  1. Go to a website, which will default to 'fit width' of the screen, which means the fonts will be tiny and nearly unreadable.

  2. Use the Aa type/font key to choose 150% or more to zoom into a specific box-framed area of the display that you want to explore -- a given article, usually.

  3. Click to get the article.

  4. When the article's settled in (e-Ink is not speedy),
      Press Menu button and select "Article Mode"

  5. This will make it very readable by getting rid of extraneous ads, polls, side-columns, etc., while increasing the font size considerably.  The effect is similar to what you get when using "Readability," "Instapaper" or "SendToReader" web tools that show you just the article's text.

  6. If the font still is not large enough for comfort, you can press the Aa font/text key to choose to increase the size of the text.

  7. If you want to see more on a line than you can in Portrait mode, the Kindle 3 lets you use Aa font/text key to rotate the Kindle to Landscape, which gives you even more readable text across the screen, but working the next-page button or the scroll down cursor is a bit more awkward that way.

At any rate, it ends up VERY readable and the text reflows very nicely to fit the screen margins, etc.

  When I use (often) the step-by-step directions from/to a place on a Kindle (see Driving directions), using Google Map's text directions, the instructions are easy to read on the Kindle 2 or DX (or even Kindle 1), but they're tiny on a Kindle 3. Why, I don't know.

But you can treat the results for driving directions the way you do any article. Press Menu and select "Article Mode" and that'll make them easily readable.

MOBILE-DEVICE OPTIMIZED SITES IN "KINDLE BOOK" FORM
Remember that you can download this mobiweb.azw file at any time, to your Kindle, from the Kindle.

  The file is explained (if you can stand any more verbiage) here.

  ONE Correction - With the GMAIL URL I recommend, SENDING an email reply required, I thought, exiting by moving the cursor down to the bottom of the reply box, and going to the SEND field.  It's actually EASIER to move UP to the Subject field and over to the SEND field at the top of the reply.

  It's times like that when we would prefer a touch screen.

---

For daily free ebooks, check the following links:  (Also, Low-priced Sunshine Deals thru' 6/15)

Temporarily-free books - Non-classics - USA: by: NEW:  Apr  May  June 2011    Publication Date   Late-listed    Bestselling   High-ratings UK: PubDate   Popular What is 3G? and "WiFi"? Highly-rated e-books under $1

Most Popular Free K-Books U.S. & Int'l (NOT UK):    Top 100 free UK-Only:    Top 100 free USEFUL for your Kindle (U.S. only, currently):   99c Notepad,   99c Calculator,   99c CalendarPro,   99c Converter

Kindle 3's   (UK: Kindle 3's)   K3 Special ($114)   K3-3G Special ($164)   DX Graphite

---

Below are ways to Share this post if you'd like others to see it.
-- The Send to Kindle button works well only on Firefox currently.

Send to Kindle

(Older posts have older Kindle model info. For latest models, see CURRENT KINDLES page. )
If interested, you can also follow my add'l blog-related news at Facebook and Twitter
Questions & feedback are welcome in the Comment areas (tho' spam is deleted). Thanks!